Sunday, September 10, 2023

Eucalyptus and Bottlebrush: How to Fight Disinformation and Denial

Amazing how many eucalyptus and bottlebrushes are growing in France and Italy 


As wildfires burn across the world, what is the role of Australia's eucalyptus tree?


A Three-Legged Bear Walks Into a Bar New York Times 



 MTA Website ‘Feature’ Lets You Track Subway Riders’ Locations 404media


‘We Love Immigrant NYC’ Campaign Kicks off Immigrant Heritage Week ABC7. That’s the left hand. Meanwhile, the right hand

 

Eric Adams says New York City’s migrant crisis will DESTROY the Big Apple as he warns that 10,000 illegal asylum seekers arriving EVERY month will flood EACH of the five boroughs: ‘The city we knew, we’re about to lose’ Daily Mail. Amother left hand: Whinge about Venezuelan immigrants. And another right hand: The Blob has worked hard to destroy Venezuela’s economy. What did we expect?

 

Chicago mayor plans to relocate nearly 1,600 migrants from police station to tents before winter FOX

 

This Is the True Scale of New York’s Airbnb Apocalypse Wired


Via 

UK government seeks expanded use of AI-based facial recognition by police Financial Times 


Ulez expanded to include whole of outer London BBC 


Hackers Shut Down 2 of the World’s Most Advanced Telescopes Space


How to Fight Disinformation and Denial

The Bulwark – A review of Lee McIntyre’s new book, On Disinformation, out today from MIT Press. “…The slim volume, small enough to fit into a back pocket, is an engaging disquisition of our present predicament, in which large numbers of our fellow citizens believe things that are demonstrably untrue. “Denialism is not a mistake—it’s a lie,” declares McIntyre, a research fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and the author of several previous books including Post-Truth (2018) and How to Talk to a Science Denier (2022). “The truth isn’t dying—it’s being killed.” McIntyre believes the use of disinformation, which he distinguishes from misinformation as being more deliberate, is part of “a coordinated campaign being run by nameable individuals and organizations whose goal is to spread disinformation out to the masses—in order to foment doubt, division, and distrust—and create an army of deniers.” He sounds kind of paranoid, but for good reason. What has happened in recent years, McIntyre writes, is that “the truth killers” have taken on a new target: reality itself. 

Consider, for instance, that two-thirds of Republicans still believe Trump won the 2020 election. How crazy does it get? You could put it in Ripley’s museum, but nobody would believe it….McIntyre, in his book, frames the battle against disinformation in militaristic terms. “The disinformation crisis that is enabling the truth killers to do such violence to our society is not a mistake or even a crime,” he avows. “It is an act of war. And it is time we got on a war footing to fight it.”